Pumpkin Spice Roasted Butternut Squash Seeds

Save the seeds from your butternut squash to make a healthy, crunchy (and cheap) snack! Season however you’d like, but if you’re into a dusting of sweetened pumpkin pie spice, I’ve got you covered – all for 15 measly cents.

If you’ve ever purchased a butternut squash and threw away the pulp and seeds, you missed out on a great, free snack! Well, let’s assume you paid for the squash. Think of it as a bonus snack you get in addition to the squash.

If calculating cost by weight, this snack costs a mere $0.15.

INGREDIENTS

Exact amounts are in the recipe at the end of this post.

You can make roasted squash seeds in many ways. If you prefer a savory taste, you can use olive oil and spices like salt, garlic powder, cumin, cajun spice – the possibilities are endless.

I’ve chosen to make these roasted butternut squash seeds sweet, using only three additional ingredients:

• coconut oil
• sugar
• pumpkin pie spice

You can use any oil, but I’ve found that coconut oil tastes so good with sweet ingredients! If you don’t have any (or don’t like it), olive oil will work.

I used organic cane sugar for my recipe since that’s what I had on hand, but you can use any type of granulated sugar you’d like.

The pumpkin pie spice seemed like a good “fall snack” ingredient, but you can absolutely use cinnamon instead. The pumpkin pie spice I have is from Trader Joe’s (I’m not sure which other brands make it) and its ingredients are:

• cinnamon
• ginger
• lemon peel
• nutmeg
• cloves
• cardamom

You could also make your own: here’s a recipe I found for how to make your own pumpkin pie spice substitute.

INSTRUCTIONS

Additional instructions are in the recipe at the end of this post.

This recipe should work for just about any winter squash seeds. Keep in mind that they’re all a bit different in shape and size, so roasting times could slightly vary. If in doubt, keep an eye on them in the oven so they don’t overcook.

Start with a firm butternut squash without any gashes or soft spots. The squash I used for these seeds weighed three pounds. It generated 1.125 ounces of raw seeds, slightly under 1/3 cup. Your amount could vary depending on your squash. If it’s in the range of 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of raw seeds, this recipe should work.

Slice the squash carefully down the middle. If it’s tall, you can cut it in half first before slicing.

See how I slice my squashes in my recipe for butternut squash soup.

SCOOP OUT THE INSIDES

Using a large spoon, scoop out the pulp and seeds and put them in a bowl.

SEPARATE, RINSE, AND DRY THE SEEDS

I’ve found that putting this in a strainer and running it under cold water helps with the separation. If any tiny pieces of pulp remain, that’s fine.

Lay the rinsed seeds on a towel and pat dry. The drier the seeds are, the better they roast. If you have time, let them sit out for a while to completely dry.

I’ve even heard of people using a hair dryer to dry them – untested by me, but perhaps worth a shot if you’re in a hurry. Just don’t hold the dryer too close or else they’ll fly all over your kitchen.

COAT THE SEEDS

Combine the coconut oil, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix this together with the seeds until evenly coated.

ROAST THE SEEDS

Spread them out on a baking sheet. Honestly, it’s fine if some of them are touching. Don’t go crazy. Life is short!

You might notice that roasting temperature and time vary with each food blogger (assuming you visit others than me, which would be weird???). This is based on the whims of the chef. I prefer them on the crunchier, roastedier side.

I tested oven temps of 275ºF to 300ºF, but I found that 15 minutes of roasting didn’t make them as golden brown as I wanted. Perhaps a longer roasting time would have made them darker. So I bumped my temp up to 350ºF.

There is a chance they will pop. This is okay, but you don’t want them to sound like a whole batch of popcorn! If they start to pop too much, turn down the heat.

This process may be different for everyone, as ovens vary depending on the age, make and model, altitude, etc.

Here’s what I did in my NYC kitchen:

• Roasted at 350ºF until I heard them start to pop, which was about 8 minutes in
• Flipped them with a spatula and turned the heat down to 325ºF
• Continued roasting for another 5 minutes, at which point they looked done to me

Feel free to turn down the heat a bit if you hear them start to pop. After I turned my heat down to 325ºF, only two or three or them popped.

I recommend keeping your oven light on and checking on them every couple of minutes.

If some of the sugar comes off while roasting, just scrape it all into a bowl.

You now have a sweet, crunchy snack that only cost cents to make!

These roasted butternut squash seeds are great on their own. They also work really well as a topping for, you guessed it, butternut squash soup.

COST BREAKDOWN

This snack is insanely cheap.

I got my seeds from a 3-pound butternut squash I purchased for $3.97.

This could mean one of two things:

• The soup I made from the squash had $3.97 worth of squash, and these seeds were free.
• The soup I made from the squash cost a portion of $3.97 based on weight, and these seeds cost the remaining amount. In this case, fellow math nerds, the 1.125 ounces of seeds is 2.34% of the total weight of the squash, which is equivalent to $0.09.

So, depending on how you look at it, my seeds cost either zero cents or nine cents.

Not a bad deal either way.

Here’s the full breakdown for what I paid using the much more expensive cost of nine cents:

• butternut squash seeds: $0.09
• coconut oil: $0.02
• pumpkin pie spice: $0.03
• sugar: $0.01

Total cost: $0.15

Remember, you’re using tiny amounts of ingredients here, so this recipe is super cheap!

I’d be interested to know how this goes for you and which oven temperature and stage of roastedness you prefer! Roastedness is definitely a word! At least I think it should be!